Golden Birthday

I turned the big 3-0 yesterday! It was great. I don't feel any older or harbor any ill feelings about turning 30. I will admit that it sounds much older to me to say that I'm 30!

My cousin, Jennifer, tried to make one of my favorite desserts for me. It ended up on fire in our oven! She was trying to make Mississippi Fudge and left it in the oven too long, unattended. Oops!



The charcoal brick had to spend the rest of the day outside! The house only smelled a little burnt by the evening, and there was no damage, so all is well!


It was a sweet effort. And it has permanently put Jennifer on clean-up duty only!!!

Our sweet friends in MN saved the day with out even knowing it. They sent us a delicious cookie cake! It showed up shortly after the Mississippi Fudge fire. We were so excited to see it and so surprised! Thank you!!!


And here's just one picture of some cuteness, which I know you're all here for anyway!

Birthday Surprise!

Yesterday, Ms. Wendy took Addy to have her pictures taken to surprise me for my birthday! It was such a surprise and I love it! Turns out everyone else in our house knew about the surprise, but no one said a word!

Here's the goods:

Our Little Picasso

Addy did some finger painting for the first time! She loved it! Addy doesn't mind getting her fingers dirty at all. In fact, she really likes it...dirt, mushing food between her fingers, doesn't matter, she likes it all.

So, I didn't give much thought to what Addy would think when I put the finger paint on a paper plate. I took her hand and showed her how to put the paint on her fingers and before I could even blink, her fingers were in her mouth! Duh. What was she supposed to think? It was so funny. She didn't like the taste of it, thank goodness!


She did a pretty good job for her first time. Most of the paint made it to the paper! Most importantly, she had fun!

Grandma & Grandpa L. Visit

For the first time since Easter, Grandma and Grandpa L. came to visit for the weekend! This is actually the longest stretch my parents have gone not coming to see us since we moved over 3 years ago! It was really nice to have them here.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Mackenzie took Addy to My Gym on Saturday morning.


All the girls went to our neighbor's pool to swim and had a great time!


Addy even went down the slide!


We also did some early birthday celebrating. First, dinner at O'Charley's. Addy and Grandpa colored together while we waited for the food to arrive.



Next, it was time for cake. It was so good. Addy agreed!





Then, off to the bathtub. This is still at the top of Addy's "favorites" list. She loves her bath time!



It was a great weekend. We were so glad Grandma and Grandpa were able to come visit us!

Mommy's Girl

Yes, my little girl LOVES ketchup!!! Here she is eating chicken with ketchup! She wouldn't touch it until Steven gave her some ketchup. He just shook his head and said it was my fault! I love it!


By the way, this was her second round of dinner. I had to work late and didn't make it home in time for dinner with the rest of the family, so this was Addy "helping" me eat my dinner. :)

First Babysitter

Friday night we had date night and left the girls with a babysitter! This was the first teen babysitter for all 3 girls. All of them have only stayed with family or adult family friends. They had so much fun! Cailin is 15 and just a really fun girl. I work with her dad. We asked her to bring her sister Reagan, who is 9, over as well, and I think it's safe to say a great time was had by all! Mackenzie asked us on Saturday morning when our next date night was going to be!


Then on Saturday, we drained our little pool in order to move it about 6 inches on the patio. It seemed like it was starting to lean on one side and we didn't want it to get any worse. The girls had fun playing in it while it drained, especially Addy! She completely soaked herself and loved every minute of it!





Then, some post-pool treats! Addy's wearing one of Katie's t-shirts, so cute!

Wrapped

Addy has these two wrapped around her little finger! She can get them to do just about anything, and they'll do just about anything to get Addy to smile and laugh. So sweet!

Another Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend hanging around the house. Friday was family movie night! Jen and Chris want to take the girls to see the new Karate Kid movie, but wanted them to see the original one first, so that's what we watched. Addy was just in it for the popcorn! It was fun for sure.


We did some more swimming on Saturday at our neighbor's pool, which is always fun! Addy loves to sit on the steps the most, but she does do a little swimming with me, too. And she poses for a few pictures as well.




I'm happy to report that Addy's funky stage is coming to an end! She's not been quite so clingy or fussy in the last couple days. We're seeing more of our old Addy again!

Happy 4th of July

Hope all of you had a great weekend! We sure did here. Before I get on with the details of our weekend, a quick update...last Sunday night we had some of our favorite people move in with us! My cousin, Jennifer, and her family moved from FL and will be staying with us for a little while until they get settled here. We are so excited to have them here! So excited.

Addy is going through a stage these days. Ever since we came back from MN she's been very clingy, which is so unlike her. Clingy to me, that is. She's a mama's girl right now. She's also developed a pitiful whine, which is extra fun. Lucky for me she loves the rest of our family staying with us. It's like she has a couple extra mommies! Mackenzie just turned 10 and can pretty much take care of Addy on her own, minus the diaper changes! She still won't go for those!



So, to celebrate the 4th of July we went to the Freedom Festival on Saturday and enjoyed some great fireworks! Addy actually enjoyed them! She didn't mind the noise at all.





Steven wasn't able to join us because he had to work. His days off are switching, so he's actually working 7 days in a row. Not fun at all! We're glad for the days off to change, but this week is so rough on him. We've pretty much only seen him for an hour or so for the last 4 days. But, then yesterday he did spend some extra time with us having fun in the back yard. We had a great dinner and then played in the pool and with water balloons! We even played some wiffle ball!




Then it was time for Steven to go to work, but the rest of us had a bon fire and made s'mores. Addy really loved that part!



"Mackenzie, where's my s'more"?


We also had a fireworks display of our own. Addy would have loved it, but she was too tired from the night before, so we put her to bed before we set off our fireworks. She slept right through it!

Such a fun weekend. Wish it could go on and on, only with Steven being able to enjoy all of it with us!

Addy's MN Trip June 5-20...Part 3

When my conference was over we spent a couple days at Grandma & Grandpa L.'s place on the lake. It wasn't as warm as we hoped it would be, but it was fun nonetheless.

Addy wandered around and helped pull weeds, or wood chips, out of the flower beds.



We introduced Addy to Grandpa's 4-wheeler, but she wasn't such a fan. In fact, she kind of had a love-hate relationship with it! She didn't want to be on it, but she was always pointing to it and wanting to be near it, sort of. She couldn't make up her mind!



Even though it was windy we did play on the beach. Addy loved it! She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty at all. She doesn't mind sitting in the sand, either. Grandpa and Addy went in the water, but I didn't, it was COLD! I don't think the water was even 70 degrees yet! Addy didn't mind one bit! She didn't mind that she had her clothes on, either!





There was lots of cuddle time with Grandma, too!




We were hoping to get Addy on the wave runners, but it was just too cold. Next time, for sure. Although, as much as she loved the 4-wheeler, not sure she'd go for a wave runner ride!

On our last night we went and visited our friends. Nina is 10 months older than Addy, but Addy is bigger in size! They had fun playing hide-and-seek together! And once again, it was nearly impossible to get a picture of both these cuties looking and smiling at the camera at the same time!






Nina is pantless because she was potty training! These two were just so cute together.

Well, finally, that was our trip to MN! It was great and Addy had a really good time being spoiled with so much attention!